Page 155 of Stars in Umbra
The pair vanished into the mountain air, nothing more than shadow and wind.
Leaving Caidan Thrall screaming in fury behind them.
26
A Tempest of Sensation
MOLAN
Mo burst through the Corvette’s loading bay, Rina tight in his grasp.
The shimmer of their stealth suits flickered out just as the doors hissed shut behind them.
Mirage, already interfaced with the ship’s cannon systems, unleashed hell.
Twin plasma arrays rained fury over the estate grounds, deflecting the rounds from Caidan’s turret guns on the castle roof.
Below, skiffs erupted in blossoms of fire. Caidan’s guards scattered, scrambling for cover.
Mo didn’t flinch. He powered down his suit, mag locks disengaging with a hiss, stripping it off piece by piece as his pulse roared in his ears.
‘Get us thefokkout of here,’ he grunted, his voice a storm barely contained.
Rina peeled off her armor, her inhale jagged.
Beneath the remaining layers, she was trembling.
Mo crossed the short distance to her in two strides and wrapped her in his arms, pressing her to his bare chest, anchoring her against his heartbeat.
She clung to him, breath hitching. He didn’t speak at first, just held her, the scent of smoke and loch wind still clinging to their skin, the echoes of danger still reverberating through their bodies.
When her shudders began to slow, he tilted her chin up and gazed down at her with something raw burning in his eyes.
‘Woman,’ he rasped, ‘you are a flawless diamond, blinding my demons. You give life a new meaning, making me dream again.’ His jaw clenched, and he kissed her forehead. ‘I swear, if he laid one more hand on you, I would’ve razed that estate to ash. I was ready to tear through his men with my bare hands.’
She glanced up at him, eyes glinting with emotion. ‘I had it under control.’
His smile was soft but pained. ‘I know. That’s what scares me.’ He smoothed damp strands of hair from her temple. ‘You’re too brave, too fierce. Every time you put yourself in the line of fire, I feel like I’m losing air. But I’ll never let anything hurt you. Not while I still draw breath.’
She cupped his cheek, and he leaned into the touch, the warmth of her grounding him.
Then he bent and kissed her, long and deep, his lips moving over hers, trying to imprint everything he couldn’t say.
When they finally broke apart, they changed into sweats in silence, with a kind of the ambiance still tinged with the rawness of having survived a close call together.
Mo tossed his ruined gear aside, took her hand, and walked with her to the Corvette’s bridge.
Once at the controls, Mirage’s holographic form flickered to life.
‘The party’s over,’ she declared. ‘The estate is compromised. Most of the guests have fled. Caidan is on the run.’
At Mirage’s command, her viewscreen feed expanded to show a sleek black skiff lifting from a hidden helipad, streaking into the clouds like a dark arrow.
She tapped the interface. ‘I launched a drone with a long-range scanner that locked onto that craft.’
The screen split. Coordinates flickered into view as the runaway skiff’s altitude rose.
Their eyes tracked the trajectory.
